An adult, male, captive lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus) was presented with weight loss, anorexia, and brood pouch distention. Initial treatments included manual expression of the brood pouch followed by saline flushes and enrofloxacin infusions. Radiographs and physical examination identified a nodular swelling in the brood pouch wall. The mass was excised, but the seahorse died. Necropsy and histopathology revealed a malignant mesenchymal tumor with a collagenous stroma, and a brood pouch fibrosarcoma was diagnosed. 相似文献
To determine the optimum selection environment for barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) targeted at low-input, stress environment,
barley lines were selected for high yield under stress (YS), high yield under non-stress (YNS), or average yield in stress
and non-stress conditions (YA) during three breeding cycles (cohorts) of three years each. The lines were then tested in a
total of 21 year-location combinations with average grain yields ranging from 0.35 to 4.86 t ha-1. Yield under stress of the YS lines was between 27% and 54% higher than that of the YNS lines, with the top YS lines yielding
under stress between 16% and 30% more than the top YNS lines. Realized heritability was between 0.35 and 0.67 when selection
was conducted under stress and was significant in all three cohorts. By contrast, selection under non-stress gave a significant
response in only one cohort, and its efficiency in improving yield under stress was significantly lower than selection under
stress. The best YNS line ranked only 19th for yield under stress. The highest-yielding lines under stress were not only selected
under stress, but were also landraces collected in very dry areas (< 250 mm total annual rainfall). This confirms earlier
findings and supports the idea that the most effective way to improve productivity of crops grown in less-favored areas is
to use locally adapted germplasm and select in the target environment(s).
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
Two species of Rhinoestrus (i.e. Rhinoestrus purpureus (Brauer) and Rhinoestrus usbekistanicus Gan) cause nasal myiasis in horses, donkeys and zebras. In the past 15 years myiasis caused by R. purpureus has been reported in Egypt and by R. usbekistanicus in Senegal and Niger, both in horses and in donkeys. With the aim to investigate the presence of this myiasis in autochthonous horses and donkeys from southern Italy and to study the seasonal trend of larval infection, 212 native horses were necropsied in two slaughterhouses in the Apulia region (site A) from January to November 2003, and 120 native horses and two donkeys in one slaughterhouse in Sicily (site B) from January to October 2003. Thirteen of 212 and 5 of 120 horses examined from sites A and B, respectively, were infected by nasal bot fly larvae. Both donkeys examined were positive. Two hundred and thirteen larvae, representing all stages, were collected from the throat region, the turbinates and beyond the lamina cribrosa of the ethmoid bone, in the cerebral cavity. Third larval stages were retrieved from April to September with the highest mean burden in site A in May and in July in site B. The simultaneous presence all three larval stages at site B suggests the existence of two or more overlapping generations. Larvae were identified on the basis of peritreme structures and arrangement of the spines on the dorsal surface of the third segment. Some L3 collected from sites A and B presented morphological characteristics of both R. usbekistanicus and R. purpureus. The presence of mixed features on the L3 of Rhinoestrus collected from the same animals may be explained by the existence of a single species of Rhinoestrus presenting different morphotypes or of two species of Rhinoestrus which are both present in southern Italy since this area is midway between eastern and African countries where these two species have been reported. 相似文献
Summary Many aeas of world, particular those where agriculture is largely practiced by resource-poor farmers with little or no use of external inputs, have not benefitted from the spectacular yield increases achieved by the combination of modern breeding technologies and use of inputs. The paper argues that because breeding is mostly conducted in presence of high inputs, it has systematically missed the opportunity to exploit genetic differences at low levels of inputs. Many studies show that these differences do exist, particularly in the case of fertilizers, and that these differences can only be identified is selection is conducted under the target level of inputs. Although this was predicted by theory more than 40 years ago, and has been supported by a large body of experimental data, very few breeders select in sub-optimal or stress conditions. The most common justification is the high environmental variation, and hence the lower heritability expected in low input conditions. While this is not supported by experimental evidence, the paper shows that in the case of a typical crop grown in low-input and climatically marginal conditions such as barley, genetic gains are possible by using locally adapted germplasm and by selecting in the target environment. Similar conclusions, in relation to the use of a low-input selection environment, have been reached recently in maize. It is concluded that the best avenue to a sustainable increase of agricultural production in low-input agricultural systems is through locally based breeding programs. 相似文献
The topical anti-inflammatory, free radical scavenging and antifungal activities of essential oils and extracts of Commiphora erythraea (Ehrenb.) Engl. resin were investigated. The hexane extract significantly inhibited oedema when applied topically in Croton oil-induced ear oedema assay in mice. The same extract showed antioxidant activity in DPPH radical scavenging assay. A bioguided separation of the hexane extract led to the isolation of furanosesquiterpenoids 1 and 2 that showed a weak antifungal activity, while compounds 3-5 resulted to be antioxidant (EC50 4.28, 2.56 and 1.08 mg/mL, respectively) and anti-inflammatory (30, 26 and 32% oedema reduction, respectively). 相似文献
The evaluation of long-term heavy metal concentrations in the Gulf of Palermo (Italy) has been carried out in order to investigate
how changes of pollution levels in the last 50 years can be reflected in marine sediments. Measurements of Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb,
and Zn concentrations were performed on dated fractions of a sediment core. Time series analysis has allowed to obtain information
on the chronology of the heavy metal pollution of the area and to identify seasonal components and trends. 相似文献
This study was carried out to identify superior barley genotypes for the rainfed areas of western Iran using a participatory
varietal selection (PVS) approach. Three field experiments were conducted in two randomly selected farmers’ fields and in
one rainfed research station in the 2006–07 cropping season with 69 genotypes (including one local and one improved check).
Several univariate and multivariate methods were used to analyze qualitative (farmers’ scores) and quantitative (grain yield)
data. Individual farmers’ scores in each village were positively correlated, indicating that the farmers tended to discriminate
genotypes in similar fashion, although the genotypes actually selected by farmers were different in the two villages. In recent
years, a greater number of farmers in western Iran preferred the improved variety (Sararood-1) over the local barley (Mahali),
while in this project the farmers preferred the new genotypes over the two checks. This was also verified by the quantitative
data showing that the checks were outyielded by the new genotypes. Farmers were efficient in identifying the best genotypes
for their specific environment, as shown by biplot analysis, indicating their competence in selection. The genotypes selected
by the breeder and farmers were almost similar but some differences existed. In conclusion, PVS is a powerful way to involve
farmers for selecting and testing new cultivars that are adapted to their needs, systems and environments. 相似文献
The effects of long-standing industrialization processes and poor environmental management practices have often left a harmful legacy for marine-coastal sites worldwide, causing a wide range of unforeseen impacts on the ecosystem and on human health. A critical revision of available data from three highly contaminated Italian sites (Augusta Bay, Sicily; Cagliari Gulf, Sardinia; Pozzuoli Bay, Campania) revealed the crucial role of biogeochemical/physical dynamics and potential widespread delivery of contaminants as key components for a wider comprehensive sediment management.
Materials and methods
Datasets of organic pollutants (ΣPAHs, ΣPCBs), heavy metals (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn), radionuclides, and grain size composition of marine sediments of all three sites were critically reviewed and seafloor bathymetric data were analyzed.
Results and discussion
A critical review of available physical and chemical information of sediments collected from the three marine sites provides a better understanding of the physical and biogeochemical dynamics of large-scale dispersion of contaminants in those areas, as well as new insights in terms of improved sediments management policies with actions of larger scale monitoring of the “buffer zone” confining with the national relevance and highly contaminated site to trace inputs and accumulation effects of pollutants deriving from the point-source.
Conclusions
This study demonstrates how the presence of polluted sediments on the coastal areas can have, also after the closure of anthropogenic activities, a potential impact at a large scale. Then to better evaluate the effective impact, we suggest the adoption of a buffer zone contiguous to the national relevance sites (SIN) area. While SINs are optimized to define the state of the art of the near-source pollution, buffer zones may help to outline the rate of delivery of pollutants to the deep sea. Buffer zones must be designed by taking into account the local hydrodynamics, sedimentology, and geomorphology, and should be monitored, even if at a lower resolution, like SINs.
The effects of inbreeding in livestock species breeds have been well documented and they have a negative impact on profitability. The objective of this study was to evaluate the levels of inbreeding in Sarda (SAR, n = 785) and Valle del Belice (VdB, n = 473) dairy sheep breeds and their impact on milk production traits. Two inbreeding coefficients (F) were estimated: using pedigree (FPED), or runs of homozygosity (ROH; FROH) at different minimum ROH lengths and different ROH classes. After the quality control, 38,779 single nucleotide polymorphisms remained for further analyses. A mixed-linear model was used to evaluate the impact of inbreeding coefficients on production traits within each breed. VdB showed higher inbreeding coefficients compared to SAR, with both breeds showing lower estimates as the minimum ROH length increased. Significant inbreeding depression was found only for milk yield, with a loss of around 7 g/day (for SAR) and 9 g/day (VdB) for a 1% increase of FROH. The present study confirms how the use of genomic information can be used to manage intra-breed diversity and to calculate the effects of inbreeding on phenotypic traits. 相似文献